The 19th-ranked Middlebury men's tennis team began the fall portion of its schedule by hosting the Middlebury Invitational. The tournament featured four teams competing in singles and doubles action, highlighted by Panther players earning titles in the "A" and "B" singles brackets and the "A" doubles flight.

SINGLES HIGHLIGHTS

• A pair of Middlebury classmates met in the "A" singles final. Top-seeded Thehan Wijemanne cruised past his three opponents to punch his ticket to the championship. Noah Lewis battled through the bracket, knocking off third-seeded Yuval Goodman of Skidmore (1-6, 6-0, 10-7) before consecutive straight-set triumphs advanced him to the final. Wijemanne bested his teammate 6-3, 7-5 in the title bout.
• The "B" singles bracket featured two Panthers in the title tilt. Hayden Williams, who swept three of his opponents in straight sets, downed Nikky Kondamuri by a 6-4, 6-3 margin in the final. Kondamuri went 3-1 in solo action, headlined by a 5-7, 6-1, 10-7 marathon over Skidmore's Mahen Bitkuri in the quarterfinals.
• Joining Wijemanne and Lewis in the "A" singles bracket was Andrew Yim. The sophomore tallied consecutive three-set thrilling triumphs against Fletcher King of Skidmore (6-7 (5), 6-4, 10-6) and Hamilton's Lleyton Mendieta (1-6, 7-5, 10-6), before falling 6-4, 6-3 to Wijemanne in the semifinals.
• Anand Sahasrabudhe tallied a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Hamilton's Filip Moller in the opening round and nabbed a three-set marathon (6-4, 4-6, 10-7) against Skidmore's Alton Swan. He dropped a 6-2, 7-5 result to Kondamuri in the "B" singles semifinals.
• Justin Zhou and Eiji Fujita represented the navy and white in the "C" singles division. Zhou eased past his initial two opponents before bowing out in a three-set thriller (6-7 (7-2), 1-6, 3-10) to eventual champion Charles Sternberg of Hamilton. Fujita won his initial match (6-3, 6-2) before ending his run in the quarterfinals.

DOUBLES HIGHLIGHTS

• The top-seeded tandem of Wijemanne and Lewis tallied consecutive 8-4 triumphs to punch its ticket to the final. Joining them was the pairing of Williams and Arjun Reiland. The latter pairing endured back-to-back 8-4 victories before an 8-5 victory over the Hamilton pair of Moller and Alexei Katelevsky pushed it to the championship. Wijemanne and Lewis cruised to an 8-1 victory over their teammates to raise the title. 
• Making a run to the "B" doubles semis were Zhou and Henry Groves. The pairing tallied an 8-4 victory over Harrison Gradin and Swan of Skidmore before falling in the semis by an 8-7 (7-2) result.

NOTES

• With his combined singles and doubles victories, Wijemanne surpassed 100 combined victories as a Panther with 45 singles and 59 doubles triumphs. 
• Lewis surpassed 40 career singles victories on the weekend.

The Panthers return to the court with hosting duties during the ITA Regional Championships. Action begins on Friday, September 25 at 9:00 a.m. on the Outdoor Tennis Courts.